Adorable

Jinbei Boy

My Little Swimmer

A Very Happy Boy

Precious

About Me

I'm just your basic, all-American girl from Denver, Colorado, except for now, I live half way around the world in Japan.: ) I met my husband in university in Denver. College sweethearts. We have been happily married since 1997. And have been together for way longer, about 16 years total. He's originally from Osaka, Japan. We lived for a couple of years in Honolulu Hawaii, where our beautiful first born son, Branden was born. We were sent there by the company my husband works for. He works for an airline by the way. After living in Honolulu, my husband's employer, wanted us to move to Japan. We live in Chiba, Japan. Where we just built our dream home, an import "all American" house! Which means a big GE oven, big GE dishwasher and yes, central heating and central air conditioning, yay! We also have a beautiful second son, named Noah. Since my husband works for an airline like I said, we travel a lot and I really do appreciate the flight benefits. Other then that, I just love spending time with my family and friends and enjoy back yard BBQ's.

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Our Golden Week spent in Guam!!! : )

We enjoyed our Guam trip a bunch. We were there from last Friday morning (May 1st) until this Wednesday evening (May 6th) is when we finally got back into Japan. It was a wonderful time spent there. I didn't take as many pictures as I should have, but I did manage to take more then last time. :P The day we got there, we had lunch at the mall right away, headed to dad's condo, where I changed into an Old Navy dress, remember the dresses I ordered were waiting for me. We walked along the beach as soon as we were all together. The kids collected shells. We then headed to Kmart so we could grab some bottled water and some lemonade and Juicy Juice, juice boxes for the kids. And some snacks for at night. Then we headed to Chili's. This is what we ate for dinner our first night there.

I had the chicken fajitas, oh my gosh they were so good. And so filling. My dad and I had the raspberry lemonade, they are unlimited drinks and the waitress kept bringing me another and another. I think I had maybe 3 raspberry lemonades. Hubby and the kids had sodas with their meals. B had a chicken breast sandwich combo and Noah had pizza.

This was my dad's plate, he had half slab of rubbed dry rub marinade and the other was the regular baby back ribs with BBQ sauce type, he had mashed potatoes with cheese and bacon and veggies. Noboru had fried chicken strips but in a sweet sauce, I am getting what Noboru ordered next time for myself, it was so good. Dad gave me a rib of his each of his and I gave him a fajita. Hubby gave me a chicken of his and I gave him a fajita. My dad and Noboru also shared. So we basically got to try bits of every one's.

On Saturday, my dad had an out to lunch date. Meanwhile, Noboru and the kids and I headed to the PIC for an all day pass. See the wrist bands we all had to wear and the security lady making sure if you are supposed to be in there or not.

See, it included everything including the buffet, swimming and everything. The buffet was absolutely dazzling btw. $40 for adults and $30 for kids, but Noah's free since he's 4 and under.

There's Branden right there about to do snorkeling. We four did snorkeling. That was so fun and beautiful because they had all sorts of exotic fish.

In the kids area, we sat while they played and had a blast there.

The boys up there just got drenched real good! : )

Going down the slide. They also have big wild adult slides, that B rode and I rode and even Noboru rode.

Mushroom or an umbrella? : ) Either way they played and played under there!!!

So many huts. Some huts for sitting and 1 hut sold snacks, ha ha ha. : )

Just about to go for a lunch break!!!!

You can canoe along the beach for free too, or sit and chill and relax. We canoed in the inside in a different area.

This is truly the largest buffet place we've been to on Guam. Even bigger then the Hilton's buffet. I wished I could have taken pics of the whole buffet it was freaking *ginormous*, seriously seriously huge. So many tables and tables of food. This was only 1 quarter of one of the tables and this was the sandwich buffet part. All the meats and cheeses and toppings you could ever imagine or fathom! Two types of mustard, 2 types of mayo, vinegar for subs ala Subway even. So many different types of breads, whole wheat, sandwich bread, fresh sliced baguettes for subs, and even more types of bread. It was shocking to see the spread at this buffet! In a good way! Yeah it was awesome! They also had macaroni salad, potato salad. Fried chicken, yakiniku and kalbi, kimchi, spaghetti and cheesy garlic bread, the largest salad buffet I have ever seen. And we're talking I've been to the buffets in Vegas and everything... this was bigger then the one at Circus Circus for sures. And the beer was unlimited and included, not that I drink. They had wine, soft drinks, tea, you name it or dream it or wish it, and it was honestly there, food wise, I mean! : )

My sub sandwich, I had Swiss and American cheese, turkey and ham, pickles and half mustard and half mayo. I also had some fried chicken. Later I got some macaroni salad and some fresh watermelon and cantaloupe and honey dew. The fruit bar was vast, I tell you. :P

They also had a donut bar and cookie and brownie table. That was not part of the cake table, they had a table separate just for cakes and pies. Yup, that's what we had for lunch last Saturday. Here is Branden, he had just finished his sub and spaghetti etc. And he was enjoying a donut with sprinkles.

This is part of the cake table. There were actually more on this side and equal amounts of different cakes on the other side. In this pic I can count 9 but there were actually 12 cakes on this side alone, 12 cakes on the other side plus the cakes on the short sides. All together there were about 28-30 different cakes and pies. That is even pecan pie in the picture. Yeah talk about being in heaven, lol!!! :P And it was all casual most people were in swim suits but wearing cover ups over them or shorts with swim wear over on top. Kids all ran around in swim suits, so it wasn't fancy it was actually really casual.

And a blurred pic but these were even the cakes on the sides of the table. It was a food paradise and a fruit paradise and a dessert paradise as well. ha ha ha. Oh yeah and the swimming. We will be going back here to play again.

This was my dessert. A slice of choco cake, a brownie and a choco cookie. I was completely chocolate-ed out. Noah had a donut but he wanted to dig into my dessert afterwards.

Oh yeah I even forgot the ice cream bar, and all the toppings they had there. B had a twist ice cream. And so did Noboru.

Aha, Noah you are giving my desserts a go, I see! : ) After this Noah went and had a twist cone.

These are what we rode down the wild big slides with. Noah tried the big slide and didn't like it, he's still too young for that fast slide. B loved it and so did Noboru. I thought it was a bit too fast too. So, we just floated around the different pools.

See this? It's sorta like a rolling log and basically who can knock off the other first wins. The key here is you want to stay on and not fall. See that kids arms wailing up and down in this pic? Branden has good balance and he knocked that kid right off. Whoops sorry kid, gomen gomen.:P

Noboru must have the same good balance B does because Noboru knocked that kid clear off and right into the water too. I didn't dare go on that because I know *I* woulda been the one knocked in the water, ha ha ha. I just watched with Noah! Ha ha ha. : )

Man talk about walking on water. *wink wink* Here's B walking on this! The boys had fun, Noboru and I also had fun. It was such a perfect day!!! : )

This lake inside PIC is where we canoed. Canoe riding and all was included in our entrance fee. I have pics of Noah in the canoe, that I took of him and the boy's on the different water slides but I used a waterproof disposable camera and haven't had the chance to get them developed yet.

I had fun in the canoe and Noah and I also took our canoe near the waterfall in the background.

From 10am to 5pm, we stayed and played and swam our hearts out and stuffed our faces at the buffet as well. We went back to my dad's condo and showered. I threw on another one of my new Old Navy dresses and a pair of flip flops. We went to a movie, the 5 of us. Here we were, in line at the movies on a Saturday night. Branden stayed up for the entire movie but Noah playing all day long at the PIC, he fell asleep at the movies half way through, which was fine. Noah didn't need entrance or a ticket at the movies, he was free since he's 3.

We went to see the new movie, 17 again with, Zac Efron. Mathew Perry was also in this, it was a good movie. We enjoyed our movie with 3 medium popcorns and sodas. After the movie, we headed to the Wendy's drive thru. And then headed back to dad's condo and sat in front of the TV in the living room and enjoyed a quick dinner. My dad had a taco salad. Noboru had 2 small 99 cent cesar salads and a large chili. I had a spicy chicken sandwich combo and an iced tea. B had the nuggets kids combo. Noah never woke up, he was still zonked since the movies, so we layed him right in bed right away. B and I shared a frosty. We watched TV until about 10:30pm and then we hit the sack. I was exhausted and so was everyone else. But good exhausted. : )

Sunday we spent shopping. Hubby spent and hour and a half at Home Depot. And Noboru's coworker, we took to Home Depot too. These 2 guys were in hog heaven at Home Depot. I smiled and didn't complain or say a word. Although I found it completely boring. After that we dropped off his coworker off at their hotel. And we went to Kmart, Two Payless grocery stores. Macy's. We even had lunch at the mall. Here's the boy's having lunch at the Microneisa Sunday afternoon.

And here's my lunch. I had the healthy grilled chicken, rice and macaroni salad and kimchi. And I split this bean burrito with B. : ) Even though he ate already. : )

Around5pm, we finished our shopping and we headed back to dad's condo. Dad was gone, he was at church, but I have my own set of keys anyway. Meanwhile we went and had an hour swim at dad's condo. And then we headed to supper

We had Pizza Hut Sunday night. We had a medium pan pizza and an order of breadsticks and an order of buffalo wings and drink bar.

B at Pizza Hut!!!! : ) Monday morning we had cereal and toast at my dad's place. And we swam at his condo's pool until about 1pm. At 1pm, we went upstairs took quick showers, I threw on another dress (Gap one this time) and flippies. And we all went to lunch at the mall. After that we all went for a drive, I swear we circled the island but not quite but it felt like it. Ha ha ha. The 5 of us went to KFC for dinner, we had mashed potatoes, macaroni, gravy, biscuits, original recipe. Finger licking good it was. We went home and my dad suggested a swim. not for me I said 1 swim a day was enough, but my dad and the boy's went down, we went pool side too, but just watched the boy's swim and splash and play for an hour with grandpa. After that the boy's took a 2nd shower, got jammies on and went to sleep. Us adults, watched TV until about 10:30-11pm again. Tuesday, we went to Ypao beach for the day and snorkeled. Ate rested and showered. Wednesday we went to Winchell's for breakfast, picked up a dozen donuts and went home and had coffee and donuts. Lazed around a bit. Started to pack up.: ( Except for the food stuff that was last minute packing stuff. We swam at dad's until 11am and then we took showers. And we 5 went to lunch at the mall one last time. Went home, and packed up the stuff and around 1:30pm we headed to the airport. The flight left at 3pm but with the Golden Week crowds and utter madness, it was good we got there early. We managed to beat the crowds at the airport, we got ourselves checked in and through security before most. And just sat. His coworker and their family were also coming back the same flight, same day. So we chatted at the gate. And that's our trip basically in a nut shell. : )

During our flight the flight attendents passed each passenger this paper. I am sure by now, most of you have heard of the "Swine flu" (H1N1) anyway every single person MUST complete this before entering Japan. Not 1 per family. This is mostly for people from countries where they have been hardest hit by the virus.: ( So as the paper states, Canada, Mexico and the United States. Now, being an American and holding a US pasport, I wondered would I go through a weird screening or anything? ha ha ha. No I didn't. We filled out the form. And when we went through the health area, everyone had to turn in the paper. Our family is pretty healthy so we passed and zipped right through. But anyway this was the real form.

Question one really was tricky have I been to the US within the past 10 days. Now technically Guam is not a state. But US territory yes. I sat there, do I mark yes or do I mark no, hubby immediately said to mark yes, even his coworkers and family who sat behind us on our flight back to Japan marked yes, I thought yes too, but wanted to double check. I called the attendant and asked her thoughts and she said it qualified as the US. She's been thru the paperwork bunches of times since the outbreak began, since she flies as an attendant, okay I thought, she'd surely know then. So, we all marked yes, "we have been to the US within the last 10 days." And the health guy said the same thing when I handed in my form but he did write down GUAM next to it. Phew. Anyway that was our trip. We come back to Japan relaxed, energized and ready to take on the daily grind yet again. : )

Surfer Boy

My Prepster

Studious and Smart

An Excellent Swimmer

About the Blog

This blog was started for everybody I care about and love back home, it sorta helps my family and friends feel more connected to me and my life. It's also a place to make new friendships, support one another, laugh our butts off at times, and just be kind to one another and hang out! So please join me, while I try living my life in Japan, all the good, the bad and yes even the embarrassing blunders that I will probably be making along the way! : )